


The Fisherman

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Inception Bingo 2020 [3]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25339441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: It's said that those who meet under duress don't have a deep connection. Those relationships fall apart. This is why the fisherman always hides the selkie's skin. He never expects her to stay once the allure of the new and forbidden wears off. Relationships take work. Real life is boring. Chores have to be done. If children are born, they have to be raised.Keeping her skin, however, can inspire her rage. Woe to him that raises her ire.
Relationships: Ariadne/Arthur (Inception)
Series: Inception Bingo 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1834918
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16
Collections: Inception Trope/Kink Bingo 2020





	The Fisherman

**Author's Note:**

> For the "mythology" square in Inception Bingo.

The mark, much to Eames' everlasting amusement, loved all things from the British Isles. "However, this particular man didn't reckon on his pretty little bride being a thief and not at all the English rose he thought she was."

 _"Without_ the hyperbole, Eames," Arthur sighed.

"Ah, you spoil all my fun."

"So what's the actual job?" Ariadne asked.

"Our lovely young miss was given the old heave ho," Eames said. "Cast off without a cent due to the prenup."

"Well, if there's a prenup..."

"She's rather angry about being discarded like trash," Eames said with a careless shrug. "Which she is, don't get me wrong, but she's still angry about it."

"Which is where we come in," Arthur said, looking up from his Moleskine. "Friends of hers hired us to get information on one of his offshore accounts. She knows the number, just not the passwords to get in."

"Ah," Ariadne murmured. "Thief."

"As we all are," Arthur reminded her.

"I think of you as a contractor," Ariadne replied, flushing.

Eames laughed, delighted. "I'm going to borrow that term."

Arthur sighed. "He likes mythology, and keeping things from his wife."

Ariadne smirked at him. "Already did the research for me?"

He grinned. "I thought i'd save you time so you can do more sightseeing," he told her, unrepentant. He reached out for her, sliding his fingers along her wrist. Even with Eames' watchful gaze, her cheeks pinked and her lips parted. "I want you to be happy."

She shifted, pressing a bit closer into his touch. "Let's see what I can do," she told them both, her fond smile softening her words and tone. "I do love a challenge."

"There's our girl!" Eames said, grinning at her.

The flush of pride and care she felt was probably more than platonic. Neither of them had to know that.

***

Arthur went looking for the seal skin's hiding place while Eames kept the mark busy. It had to be somewhere in the fisherman's cottage, a place that a sealwife would have a problem with. Not in the kitchens or bedroom, not in the root cellar or closet. He went through the storage shed and attic, neither a place that a selkie would really go, but both locations turned up blank. Even the walls were paper smooth, not even the faintest whisper of a secret staining them. Arthur sat back on his heels as he knelt in the attic, looking around. Where else would the fisherman go that his wife couldn't? This entire homestead was the heart of the maze, it had to be here.

Out of the window, the moonlight glinting off the lake's surface caught his eye. A boat had been tied up along the dock, which was still part of the property. He'd seen it when creeping into the house. The fisherman would be out on the lake all day while his wife was in the house.

Perfect.

No booby traps on the boat, thankfully. Arthur didn't much like the idea of getting blasted to pieces. That was always unpleasant, and the sensation lasted for hours afterward.

The skin was leathery, a pale paper white with gray spots on it in the pattern of numbers and letters. Eames did his job, then, got the mark thinking of the password.

Arthur memorized it, then shot himself awake, the signal for Eames to start extricating himself.

Ariadne was there, watching over them all as they slept. She'd insisted on being part of this to the end, even if she didn't have to be. "Got it," he told her.

"I never doubted you," she said, smiling. It was soft and gentle, almost loving, one he'd save in his memory palace for years to come.

He caught her wrist when she would've given Eames the countdown timer, and Ariadne looked at him uncertainly. "Ariadne? I want to steal something else."

Before she could say anything, he kissed her, soft and slow, as if they had all the time in the world. This was a better kiss than the rushed distraction in the Fischer job, one that she clearly enjoyed more. She was kissing him back, headphones dropping from her fingers to the floor.

This was a promise, not a ruse.

They eventually came back to the present, to the job at hand. Time to cue the music, help guide Eames out if necessary.

It wasn't, and Eames slunk away first. Arthur caught Ariadne's hand. "I want to see you again. Not just for a job or a favor."

Ariadne smiled at him, then took her scarf off to give to him. "Not a skin, but something like that."

"And if I don't ever want to return it?"

She grinned. "Then you'd better not piss me off."

"No intention of doing so," he assured her.

"Good," she said as she watched him fold the scarf so very carefully before slipping it into his jacket pocket. "Now it's time to go."

After Arthur handed over the password as they had been hired to do, he retreated to his hotel room. He pulled out Ariadne's scarf and placed it underneath his pillow. It was too easy as far as hiding places went, but he wouldn't try to trap Ariadne like that. If she stayed, it would be because they both wanted to be together, not because he coerced her.

He knew what she was capable of, and not to anger her. Hopefully, she'd never want to leave.

The End


End file.
